New release: 3 New Fonts for Your Vic

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:04 pm

Thanks Jeff - and

orion70 wrote:...could you please:
1- Make a 16K+ version of the character generator

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:34 pm

I just realized, I don't know how to work with RAM expansions. How the heck do I make user graphics when the memory shifts?

Everything I've done before now was with no expansion. I could see myself someday expanding by 3k, but 8k or more would require me to put the user graphics at the beginning and point the program elsewhere, etc. Sounds too complicated.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sat Apr 24, 2010 11:45 am

Hi, Jeff!

Jeff-20 wrote:How the heck do I make user graphics when the memory shifts?

I think you'd like to edit your program/game on the VIC, and still want to be able to save the whole lot (including charset) in one piece onto disk. This can be done quite easily, as follows (with at least 8K RAM expansion inserted): First, type in this BASIC stub:

Code: Select all

1 POKE44,28:RUN

Second, you'd put the BASIC start at 7169:

Code: Select all

POKE44,28:POKE7168,0:NEW

Finally, you'd place a complete copy of the uppercase character set at 5120:

Code: Select all

FORT=0TO2047:POKE5120+T,PEEK(32768+T):NEXT

Now, you can start to write your own program. The charset at 5120 is activated with POKE 36869,205. The text screen is located at 4096, and colour RAM at 37888. If you want to save everything, write:

Code: Select all

POKE44,18:SAVE"NAME",8

Then upon LIST, or reload, you'll see the line

Code: Select all

1 POKE44,28:RUN

again, which starts your own program as you type RUN - and then you can edit it again.

One small caveat: if you load such a program when the BASIC start is already put at 7169, line 1 enters an infinite loop, as the BASIC start isn't altered, and line 1 just re-runs itself.

Michael

P.S.: So no reason for you anymore not to use 8K, or bigger extensions.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 12:23 pm

I knew there was my saviour somewhere out there... Now I can try making versions of the BASIC text adventures with Jeff's fonts... at least if I understood correctly how to do it...

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 1:31 pm

In that case, some extra work is necessary, as Jeff's character sets are stored at 6144.

Within VICE, and with +8K (or more) active, proceed as follows:

Code: Select all

LOAD"FONT1.PRG",8,1

This loads the program to the same address it would be loaded to on an unexpanded VIC-20. Especially, the BASIC part now ends up in the text screen. Press Alt-R to reset the VIC, keeping memory intact (this also works on the real VIC-20 me guesses). Now copy down the character set from 6144 to 5120:

Code: Select all

FORT=0TO2047:POKE5120+T,PEEK(6144+T):NEXT

Then, enter the BASIC stub from above, and move up the BASIC start:

Code: Select all

1 POKE44,28:RUN

POKE44,28:POKE7168,0:NEW

Finally, a small program that activates the character set and deletes itself, and the whole which should be saved to disk before running:

Code: Select all

1 POKE36869,205:NEW

POKE44,18:SAVE"FONT1A.PRG",8

RUN

If any questions remain ...

Greetings,

Michael

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sun Apr 25, 2010 8:42 pm

It's really hard to improve upon the VIC's standard font. I don't think I could improve legibility. I should have spent more time on these three. I was just curious about how it could be done. It makes for a neat toy.

I think I have some emotional block preventing me from using memory expansion. I can never seem to get around to starting a project that requires more memory!

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:50 am

Mike wrote:If any questions remain ...

Thanks Mike, will try it ASAP and submit problems here.

Jeff-20 wrote:It's really hard to improve upon the VIC's standard font. I don't think I could improve legibility. I should have spent more time on these three. I was just curious about how it could be done. It makes for a neat toy.

They're nice, and at least one (the 2nd IIRC) has a good readability. I encourage you to produce some more sets

.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:46 am

Seems I should finish the "plug-in" which allows to edit a complete set of 256 characters within MINIPAINT.

More to come next weekend.

GreyGhost · Post by **GreyGhost** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 4:31 pm

Regular and multicolor at the same time would really be nice.

Kananga · Post by **Kananga** » Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:59 pm

GreyGhost wrote:Regular and multicolor at the same time would really be nice.

Yes, please!

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Wed Apr 28, 2010 9:14 am

In the meantime - Jeff, your font#2 is not bad at all for sci-fi games such as the strategy classic Star Trek...

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue May 04, 2010 6:59 am

Mike wrote:In that case, some extra work is necessary, as Jeff's character sets are stored at 6144.

Within VICE, and with +8K (or more) active, proceed as follows:
Code: Select all
LOAD"FONT1.PRG",8,1

I'm trying to "single-file" BASIC adventures with Jeff's fonts, but I'm already stuck at this point

. When LOADing"FONTn",8,1 with 8K+ expansion, I get the error screen:

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Tue May 04, 2010 8:56 am

Just follow the rest of the instructions ...

Mike wrote:This loads the program to the same address it would be loaded to on an unexpanded VIC-20. Especially, the BASIC part now ends up in the text screen. Press Alt-R to reset the VIC, keeping memory intact [...]

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue May 04, 2010 8:58 am

I'm working too much lately

.

Mike · Post by **Mike** » Tue May 04, 2010 9:03 am

What a quick response!

You remember we had agreed upon something for this year.

Do you have a certain appropriate date in mind within the next two months? -> PM

Cheers,

Michael